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The 2023 Annual Highlights of Results from the International Space Station is now available. This new edition contains bibliometric analyses, a list of all the publications documented in fiscal year 2023, and synopses of the most recent and recognized scientific findings from investigations conducted on the space station. These investigations are sponsored by NASA and all international partners – CSA (Canadian Space Agency), ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and the State Space Corporation Roscosmos (Roscosmos) – for the advancement of science, technology, and education. These new peer-reviewed publications include insights that advance the commercialization of space and benefit humankind. Over 4,000 scientific publications have been collected from more than 5,000 investigators during the life of the space station. Between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023, more than 300 publications were reported, most of them undergoing rigorous scientific review before release and dissemination. An in-depth bibliometric analysis of station science shows that the citation impact of these publications has been above national and global standards since 2010. This impact demonstrates that space station science continues to produce groundbreaking results for investigators around the world to further explore. Some of the findings presented in this edition include: Improved measurement of cosmic particles (Italian Space Agency) New ultrasound technologies for detection of physiological changes (CSA) Enhanced understanding of coordinated function in brain activity (ESA) Development of better semiconductor materials (NASA) Impacts of spaceflight on connective tissue for improved tissue remodeling (ROSCOSMOS) Understanding the behavior of granular materials for better spacecraft design (JAXA) The content in the Annual Highlights of Results from the International Space Station has been reviewed and approved by the Program Science Forum, a team of scientists and administrators from the international partnership of space agencies dedicated to planning, improving, and communicating the research operated on the space station. See the list of Station Research Results publications here and read more about the space station’s annual highlights of results and accomplishments here.   Keep Exploring Discover More Topics Space Station Research Results Space Station Research and Technology ISS National Laboratory Opportunities and Information for Researchers View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Renee King calls herself Goddard Space Flight Center’s conscience: She helps make sure that at NASA Goddard, there truly is space for everyone. Name: Renee King Title: Deputy Director of Equal Opportunity Formal Job Classification: Supervisory, Equal Employment Opportunity Specialist Organization: Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity (Code 120) Renee King is the Deputy Director of Equal Opportunity at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Courtesy of Renee King What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I provide oversight and manage the Equal Opportunity (EO) program, which consists of the complaints, reasonable accommodation, Affirmative Employment (MD 715) and special emphasis programs. I serve as the conscience of the center, ensuring fairness and equity for all employees. My most interesting role here at the center is building relationships with the people and forming partnerships with community, local and national groups, and organizations, while I support the mission of attracting and developing a talented and diverse workforce. What is your educational background? What attracted you to EO? I have a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. I value people and processes and believe in equality and fairness. Being part of something that is bigger than me, as I love to help people and want to be the change agent that empowers DEIA – diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility – and it’s the right thing to do. What brought you to Goddard? I came to Goddard because it was ranked the number one agency to work for in their category. I started as an EEO specialist and evolved in 2022 into my current position. What are your goals for Goddard’s EO programs? I want to ensure that we are acknowledging the underrepresented groups and understanding the data around these groups and how they represent Goddard. For example, if there is a lack of women engineers at Goddard, we can look at the data and do more outreach to encourage more women engineers to work at Goddard. We are focused now on identifying and collecting data about these unrepresented groups. How do you use the data to implement change? We effect change through outreach to build awareness. One way is to look at more diverse universities and colleges, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal universities, to see how they could assist us in the goal of getting more diverse talent in the workplace. What is your involvement with Goddard’s employee resource groups (ERGs)? I oversee the Women’s ERG, which addresses issues surrounding women at Goddard and in general. The group allows us to promote education and training through observances, mentoring, and program activities. I also oversee the program managers for most of Goddard’s ERGs to include the African Diaspora ERG, the Equal Accessibility ERG, the Hispanic Advisory Committee for Employees (HACE) ERG, the Native American ERG, and the Asian American ERG. All of the ERGs are vital to the center and the people. How do you communicate Goddard’s EO program needs to management? I assist the Goddard Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity director as a consultant, and as an adviser to the center director, deputy center directors, associate center director, and other management officials on all equal opportunity matters. Partially related to DEIA, I meet bi-weekly with senior management, which allows me to feel connected with and believe that they deeply care about our program. EO has a definite place in Goddard’s organization and we feel very supported. I thank Veronica Hill, Goddard’s EO director, for putting our office in a place where we are seen and heard. I thank senior management for listening and caring. Who inspires you? My mom! She is the strongest woman I know. I stand on the shoulders of three generations of strong black women. She was the matriarch of our family. I saw her strength and her will as she fought for everything that she thought was right, even against her cancer. The lesson I learned is to never give up. Family is everything. What are your hobbies? I like shopping. I enjoy home decorating. I also love event planning, especially family reunions. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. Resilient. Loyal. Diligent. Professional. Kind. Supportive. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 20, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsPeople of GoddardGoddard Space Flight CenterPeople of NASA Explore More 7 min read Sislyn ‘Pauline’ Barrett: Procuring the Perfect Engineering Services Article 2 weeks ago 6 min read Bethany Theiling: Researching Oceans on Earth and Beyond Bethany Theiling is a planetary research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,… Article 3 months ago 7 min read PACE Mission’s Sujung Go: Helping Humanity and the Environment Article 1 week ago View the full article

Following the success of the Apollo 8 circumlunar mission, NASA believed that it could achieve a Moon landing by the summer of 1969 and meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal. Much work remained to accomplish that objective. Three crews and their backups trained for the next three Apollo missions while workers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida prepared the spacecraft and rockets for those flights. With Apollo 9 in the home stretch to test the Lunar Module (LM) in Earth orbit in early March, preparations also continued for Apollo 10 in May, a lunar orbit test of the LM that served as a dress rehearsal for the Moon landing, and for Apollo 11, the landing mission itself planned for July. Apollo 8 Left: Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman and his wife Susan, at left, meet the Royal family at Buckingham Palace during the London stop of their European tour. Middle: Borman, left, meets with French President Charles de Gaulle and U.S. Ambassador to France R. Sargent Shriver during the Paris stop of the tour. Right: In Brussels, Borman, left, presents a model of the Saturn V rocket to Jean Rey, president of the European Commission. Left: In Den Haag, The Netherlands, Apollo 8 astronaut Borman, right, describes the Lunar Module to Queen Juliana. Middle: At The Vatican, Borman, left, presents a photograph of the Moon from Apollo 8 to Pope Paul VI. Right: The Bormans, Frank, left, Susan, and sons Edwin and Frederick, hold a press conference in Lisbon, the last stop of their European tour. As President Richard M. Nixon announced on Jan. 30, Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman, his wife Susan, and their two children Frederick and Edwin, set off on their European goodwill tour on Feb. 2, flying aboard a presidential Air Force jet. Borman’s Apollo 8 crewmates James A. Lovell and William A. Anders could not participate in the tour because they had already begun training as part of the Apollo 11 backup crew. The Bormans’ 19-day tour took them to London, Paris, Brussels, Den Haag, Bonn, West Berlin, Rome, Madrid, and Lisbon. They met with royalty, politicians, scientists, and Pope Paul VI, gave lectures during which Borman narrated a film from his flight, and held numerous press conferences. Apollo 9 Left: Apollo 9 astronauts Russell L. Schweickart, left, James A. McDivitt, and David R. Scott pose in front of the control panel for the spacecraft simulators. Middle: Fisheye lens view of Schweickart, left, and McDivitt in the Lunar Module simulator. Right: A technician poses in the Apollo A7L spacesuit, including the Portable Life Support System backpack used for the first time during Apollo 9. Apollo 9 astronauts James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart planned to conduct the first crewed test of the LM during their 10-day Earth orbital mission. They and their backups Charles “Pete” Conrad, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean spent many hours in the spacecraft simulators and training for the spacewalk component of the mission. The planned spacewalk, the first and only one before the Moon landing mission, would not only test the spacesuit and its Portable Life Support System but also demonstrate an external crew transfer should a problem arise with the internal transfer tunnel or hatches. McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart provided details of their mission to reporters during a press conference on Feb. 8 at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. They explained that during the mission phase when the two vehicles fly separately, they will use the call signs Spider for the LM and Gumdrop for the Command Module (CM), lighthearted references to the shapes of the respective spacecraft. Left: Apollo 9 astronauts Russell L. Schweickart, left, James A. McDivitt, and David R. Scott during the preflight crew press conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Right: Senior NASA management assembled for the Apollo 9 Flight Readiness Review at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC): Associate Administrator for Manned Flight George E. Mueller, left, Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips, KSC Director Kurt H. Debus, MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth, and Marshall Space Flight Center Director Wernher von Braun. Senior NASA managers met at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida for Apollo 9’s Flight Readiness Review the first week of February. At the end of the meeting, they set the launch date for Feb. 28. The following week, engineers in Firing Room 2 of KSC’s Launch Control Center conducted the Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT), essentially a dress rehearsal for the actual countdown. On Feb. 12, McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart participated in the final portion of the CDDT, as they would on launch day, by donning their spacesuits and climbing aboard their spacecraft for the final two hours of the test. Engineers began the countdown to launch on Feb. 26 but had to halt it the next day when the astronauts developed head colds. Managers reset the launch date to March 3, and the countdown restarted on March 1. Left: The Apollo 9 Saturn V at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT). Middle: Engineers in the Launch Control Center’s Firing Room 2 monitor the rocket and spacecraft during the CDDT. Right: Apollo 9 astronauts Russell L. Schweickart, left, David R. Scott, and James A. McDivitt pose in front of their Saturn V following the CDDT. Apollo 10 Stacking of the Apollo 10 vehicle in High Bay 2 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Left: The three stages of the Saturn V stacked on Mobile Launcher-3. Middle left: The Apollo 10 spacecraft, the Command and Service Modules and the Lunar Module (LM) encased in the Spacecraft LM Adapter, arrives from the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building. Middle right: Workers lift the spacecraft for stacking onto the rocket, the footpads of the LM’s folded landing gear visible. Right: Workers lower the spacecraft onto the Saturn V rocket’s third stage. With Apollo 9 on Launch Pad 39A and almost ready to launch, workers in High Bay 2 of KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) completed stacking of the Apollo 10 launch vehicle. The spacecraft, consisting of the Command and Service Modules atop the LM encased in the Spacecraft LM Adapter, arrived from the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) on Feb. 6 and VAB workers stacked it on the Saturn V rocket the same day. Engineers began to conduct integrated tests on the launch vehicle in preparation for rollout to Launch Pad 39B in mid-March. Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan and their backups L. Gordon Cooper, Donn F. Eisele, and Edgar D. Mitchell spent much time in spacecraft simulators and testing their spacesuits in vacuum chambers. Apollo 11 Left: Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, left, confers with support astronauts Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt, the only geologist in the astronaut corps at the time, during training for deployment of the Early Apollo Science Experiment Package (EASEP). Right: Astronaut Don L. Lind, suited, practices deploying the EASEP instruments as Aldrin, in white shirt behind the dish antenna, oberves. With their historic mission only five months away, the Apollo 11 prime crew of Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin and their backups James A. Lovell, William A. Anders, and Fred W. Haise busied themselves training for the Moon landing. Although the primary goal of the first Moon landing mission centered on demonstrating that the Apollo spacecraft systems could safely land two astronauts on the surface and return them safely to Earth, the surface operations also included collecting lunar samples and deploying experiments. During their two-and-a-half-hour surface excursion, Armstrong and Aldrin planned to deploy three instruments comprising the Early Apollo Surface Experiment Package (EASEP) – a passive seismometer, a laser ranging retro-reflector, and a solar wind composition experiment. On Jan. 21, 1969, astronauts Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt, the only geologist in the astronaut corps, and Don L. Lind conducted a simulation of the EASEP deployment in MSC’s Building 9. Aldrin observed the simulation, obviously with great interest. Left: Apollo 11 astronauts Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, left, and Neil A. Armstrong during geology training at Sierra Blanco, Texas. Right: Apollo 11 backup astronauts Fred W. Haise, left, and James A. Lovell at the Sierra Blanco geology training session. Generic instruction in geology, including classroom work and field trips, became part of overall NASA astronaut training beginning in 1964. Once assigned to a crew that had a very good chance of actually walking on the lunar surface and collecting rock and soil samples, those astronauts received specialized instruction in geology. On Feb. 24, 1969, the two prime moonwalkers Armstrong and Aldrin, along with their backups Lovell and Haise, participated in their only trip specifically dedicated to geology training. The field exercise in west Texas took place near Sierra Blanca and the ruins of Fort Quitman, about 90 miles southeast of El Paso. Accompanied by a team from MSC’s Geology Branch, the astronauts practiced sampling the variety of rocks present at the site to obtain a representative collection, skills needed to choose the best sample candidates during their brief excursion on the lunar surface. Left: Workers mount the S-IC first stage on its Mobile Launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Middle: Neil A. Armstrong stands in front of the Lunar Module simulator at the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Right: Aerial view of the LLRF at Langley. By mid-February, all three stages of the Apollo 11 Saturn V had arrived in the VAB, and on Feb. 21, workers stacked the S-IC first stage on its Mobile Launcher in High Bay 1. They finished assembling the rocket in March. In an altitude chamber in the nearby MSOB, on Feb. 10, engineers conducted a docking test between the CM and the LM. Five days later, they mated the ascent and descent stages of the LM for further testing. With the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) still grounded following its December 1968 crash, the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, remained as the only high-fidelity trainer for the descent and landing of the LM on the Moon. Armstrong practiced landings in the LLRF on Feb 12. Lunar Receiving Laboratory and Mobile Quarantine Facility To minimize the risk of back contamination of the Earth with any possible lunar microorganisms, NASA designed and built the 83,000-square-foot Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL), residing in MSC’s Building 37. The facility isolated the astronauts, their spacecraft, and lunar samples to prevent any Moon germs from escaping into the environment, and also maintained the lunar samples in as pristine a condition as possible. The Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) provided isolation for the returning astronauts from shortly after splashdown until their delivery to the LRL, an activity that required transport of the MQF on a cargo jet aircraft. On Feb. 6, following its return from sea trials, workers placed the MQF inside Chamber A of MSC’s Space Environment Simulation Facility. The test in the large vacuum chamber checked out the MQF’s emergency oxygen supply during a simulated aircraft pressure loss. Three test subjects successfully completed the test. Left: Workers truck the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) into the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (SESL) at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Middle: Workers install the MQF in Chamber A of the SESL for a test of the emergency oxygen system. Right: Test subjects inside the MQF prepare for the emergency oxygen system test in the SESL. To be continued … News from around the world in February 1969: Feb. 3 – Ibuprofen launched in the United Kingdom as a prescription anti-inflammatory analgesic. Feb. 5 – The population of the United States reaches 200 million. Feb. 7 – British band The Who record their song “Pinball Wizard.” Feb. 7 – Diane Krump becomes the first woman jockey at a major U.S. racetrack (Hialeah, Florida). Feb. 8 – The Allende meteorite weighing nearly two tons explodes in mid-air and fragments fall on Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico. Feb. 9 – First flight of the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet from Everett, Washington. Feb. 21 – First launch of U.S.S.R.’s N-1 Moon rocket, not successful. Feb. 24 – U.S. launches Mariner 6 to fly-by Mars. Share Details Last Updated Feb 20, 2024 Related TermsNASA HistoryApollo Explore More 7 min read 30 Years Ago: Clementine Changes Our View of the Moon Article 4 days ago 3 min read NASA Goddard’s Beginnings in Project Vanguard Article 4 days ago 8 min read 55 Years Ago: President Nixon Establishes Space Task Group to Chart Post-Apollo Plans Article 1 week ago View the full article

5 min read NASA-Funded Science Projects Tuning In to ‘Eclipse Radio’ On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross parts of the United States. For millions of people along the path of totality, where the Moon will completely cover the Sun, it may feel like an eerie daytime darkness has descended as temperatures drop and wind patterns change. But these changes are mild compared to what happens some 100 to 400 miles above our heads in an electrically conductive layer of our atmosphere known as the ionosphere, where the “false night” of an eclipse is amplified a hundredfold. Three NASA-funded experiments will investigate the eclipse’s effects on the ionosphere through the power of radio, a technology well suited to studying this enigmatic layer of our atmosphere. The Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse douses Umatilla National Forest in shadow, darkening the sky and rimming the horizon with a 360 degree sunset. NASA/Mara Johnson-Groh Whether you’ve heard of the ionosphere or not, you’ve likely taken advantage of its existence. This electric blanket of particles is critical for long-distance AM and shortwave radio. Radio operators aim their transmitters into the sky, “bouncing” signals off this layer and around the curvature of Earth to extend their broadcast by hundreds or even thousands of miles. The ionosphere is sustained by our Sun. The Sun’s rays separate negatively charged electrons from atoms, creating the positively charged ions that the ionosphere is named for. When night falls, over 60 miles of the ionosphere disappears as ions and electrons recombine into neutral atoms. Come dawn, the electrons are freed again and the ionosphere swells in the Sun’s illumination – a daily cycle of “breathing” in and out at a global scale. A total solar eclipse is a scientific goldmine – a rare chance to observe a natural experiment in action. On April 8 the three NASA-funded projects listed below are among those “tuning in” to the changes wrought by a blotted-out Sun. SuperDARN The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network, or SuperDARN, is a collection of radars located at sites around the world. They bounce radio waves off of the ionosphere and analyze the returning signal. Their data reveals changes in the ionosphere’s density, temperature, and location (i.e. movement). The 2024 eclipse will pass over three U.S.-based SuperDARN radars. A team of scientists led by Bharat Kunduri, a professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, have been busy preparing for it. An aerial view of a SuperDARN radar site outside Hays, Kansas. Credit: Fort Hays State University “The changes in solar radiation that occur during a total solar eclipse can result in a ’thinning’ of the ionosphere,” Kunduri said. “During the eclipse, SuperDARN will operate in special modes designed to monitor the changes in the ionosphere at finer spatiotemporal scales.” Kunduri’s team will compare SuperDARN’s measurements to predictions from computer models to answer questions about how the ionosphere responds to a solar eclipse. HamSCI While some experiments rely on massive radio telescopes, others depend more on people power. The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation, or HamSCI, is a NASA citizen science project that involves amateur or “ham” radio operators. On April 8, ham radio operators across the country will attempt to send and receive signals to one another before, during, and after the eclipse. Led by Nathaniel Frissell, a professor of Physics and Engineering at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, HamSCI participants will share their radio data to catalog how the sudden loss of sunlight during totality affects their radio signals. Students work with Dr. Frissell in the ham radio lab on campus. Simal Sami ’24 (in orange), who is part of Scranton’s Magis Honors Program in STEM; Dr. Frissell; and Veronica Romanek ’23, a physics major. Photo by Byron Maldonado courtesy of The University of Scranton This experiment follows similar efforts completed during the 2017 total solar eclipse and the 2023 annular eclipse. “During the 2017 eclipse, we found that the ionosphere behaved very similar to nighttime,” Frissell said. Radio signals traveled farther, and frequencies that typically work best at night became usable. Frissell hopes to continue the comparison between eclipses and the day/night cycle, assessing how widespread the changes in the ionosphere are and comparing the results to computer models. RadioJOVE Some radio signals don’t bounce off of the ionosphere – instead, they pass right through it. Our Sun is constantly roiling with magnetic eruptions, some of which create radio bursts. These long-wavelength bursts of energy can be detected by radio receivers on Earth. But first they must pass through the ionosphere, whose ever-changing characteristics affect whether and how these signals make it to the receiver. This radio image of the Sun was made with a radio telescope by astronomer Stephen White (University of Maryland). The radio emission was detected with the Very Large Array radio telescope at a wavelength of 4.6 GHz. The image shows bright regions (red and yellow) of million-degree gas above sunspots. Credit: Courtesy NRAO / AUI / NSF The RadioJOVE project is a team of citizen scientists dedicated to documenting radio signals from space, especially Jupiter. During the total solar eclipse, RadioJOVE participants will focus on the Sun. Using radio antenna kits they set up themselves, they’ll record solar radio bursts before, during, and after the eclipse. During the 2017 eclipse, some participants recorded a reduced intensity of solar radio bursts. But more observations are needed to draw firm conclusions. “With better training and more observers, we’ll get better coverage to further study radio propagation through the ionosphere,” said Chuck Higgins, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and founding member of RadioJOVE. “We hope to continue longer-term observations, through the Heliophysics Big Year and beyond.” Find out more about the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse on NASA’s eclipse page. By Miles Hatfield NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 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NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credits: NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is available in limited opportunities to discuss her mission beginning at 8 a.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 26. The interviews will take place ahead of Dyson launching to the International Space Station in March. The virtual interviews will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Interested media must submit a request to speak with Dyson no later than 12 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston newsroom at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. Dyson is scheduled to launch aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft Thursday, March 21, and will spend approximately six months aboard the space station. She will travel to the station with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus, both of whom will spend approximately 12 days aboard the orbital complex. During her expedition, Dyson will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations that help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit people on Earth. Among some of the hundreds of experiments ongoing during her mission, Dyson will continue to study how fire spreads and behaves in space with the Combustion Integrated Rack, as well as contribute to the long-running Crew Earth Observations study by photographing Earth to better understand how our planet is changing over time. After completing her expedition, Dyson will return to Earth this fall with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Courtney Beasley Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 20, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHumans in SpaceAstronautsInternational Space Station (ISS)Johnson Space CenterMissionsNASA HeadquartersSpace Operations Mission DirectorateTracy Caldwell Dyson View the full article

NASA/Brandon Torres NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails views a demonstration on screen in the Airspace Operations Laboratory at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Researchers presented the diverse, long-running efforts in aeronautics at Ames that have helped lay the foundation for agency work related to wildfire response. These include a project to help integrate drones into the airspace with Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management, their application to disaster response with the Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations project, and how those informed NASA’s newest effort to make wildfire response more targeted and adaptable, the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations project. Michael Falkowski, program manager for the Applied Sciences Wildland Fire program at NASA Headquarters presented wildfire efforts happening under NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, such as the FireSense project, led out of Ames. The importance of collaborations within NASA and with partner agencies was also highlighted. Wildfires are complex phenomena and tackling their challenges will require the work of many, for the benefit of all. NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails, left, and Jeff Homola, NASA research engineer, discuss aeronautics projects at Ames that support the agency’s work to optimize wildfire response efforts in collaboration with its partners. NASA/Brandon TorresView the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) New observations from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft hint that the Kuiper Belt – the vast, distant outer zone of our solar system populated by hundreds of thousands of icy, rocky planetary building blocks – might stretch much farther out than we thought. Artist’s concept of a collision between two objects in the distant Kuiper Belt. Such collisions are a major source of dust in the belt, along with particles kicked up from Kuiper Belt objects being peppered by microscopic dust impactors from outside of the solar system.Credit: Dan Durda, FIAAA Speeding through the outer edges of the Kuiper Belt, almost 60 times farther from the Sun than Earth, the New Horizons Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (SDC) instrument is detecting higher than expected levels of dust – the tiny frozen remnants of collisions between larger Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) and particles kicked up from KBOs being peppered by microscopic dust impactors from outside of the solar system. The readings defy scientific models that the KBO population and density of dust should start to decline a billion miles inside that distance and contribute to a growing body of evidence that suggests the outer edge of the main Kuiper Belt could extend billions of miles farther than current estimates – or that there could even be a second belt beyond the one we already know. The results appear in the Feb. 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters. “New Horizons is making the first direct measurements of interplanetary dust far beyond Neptune and Pluto, so every observation could lead to a discovery,” said Alex Doner, lead author of the paper and a physics graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder who serves as SDC lead. “The idea that we might have detected an extended Kuiper Belt — with a whole new population of objects colliding and producing more dust – offers another clue in solving the mysteries of the solar system’s most distant regions.” Designed and built by students at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder under the guidance of professional engineers, SDC has detected microscopic dust grains produced by collisions among asteroids, comets and Kuiper Belt objects all along New Horizons’ 5-billion-mile, 18-year journey across our solar system – which after launch in 2006 included historic flybys of Pluto in 2015 and the KBO Arrokoth in 2019. The first science instrument on a NASA planetary mission to be designed, built and “flown” by students, the SDC counts and measures the sizes of dust particles, producing information on the collision rates of such bodies in the outer solar system. The latest, surprising results were compiled over three years as New Horizons traveled from 45 to 55 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun – with one AU being the distance between Earth and Sun, about 93 million miles or 140 million kilometers. These readings come as New Horizons scientists, using observatories like the Japanese Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, have also discovered a number KBOs far beyond the traditional outer edge of the Kuiper Belt. This outer edge (where the density of objects starts to decline) was thought to be at about 50 AU, but new evidence suggests the belt may extend to 80 AU, or farther. As telescope observations continue, Doner said, scientists are looking at other possible reasons for the high SDC dust readings. One possibility, perhaps less likely, is radiation pressure and other factors pushing dust created in the inner Kuiper Belt out past 50 AU. New Horizons could also have encountered shorter-lived ice particles that cannot reach the inner parts of the solar system and were not yet accounted for in the current models of the Kuiper Belt. “These new scientific results from New Horizons may be the first time that any spacecraft has discovered a new population of bodies in our solar system,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder. “I can’t wait to see how much farther out these elevated Kuiper Belt dust levels go.” Now into its second extended mission, New Horizons is expected to have sufficient propellant and power to operate through the 2040s, at distances beyond 100 AU from the Sun. That far out, mission scientists say, the SDC could potentially even record the spacecraft’s transition into a region where interstellar particles dominate the dust environment. With complementary telescopic observations of the Kuiper Belt from Earth, New Horizons, as the only spacecraft operating in and collecting new information about the Kuiper Belt, has a unique opportunity to learn more about KBOs, dust sources and expanse of the belt, and interstellar dust and the dust disks around other stars. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio and Boulder, Colorado, directs the mission via Principal Investigator Alan Stern and leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of NASA’s New Frontiers program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Share Details Last Updated Feb 20, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related TermsNew HorizonsThe Kuiper Belt View the full article

Credit: NASA/Brandon Hancock Matthew Ramsey is keenly aware of the responsibility he shoulders to ensure the agency’s missions to the Moon are safe and successful. As the mission manager for Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed mission under Artemis, Ramsey is charged with helping to define the requirements and priorities for the missions and certifying that the hardware and operations needed to support flight are ready. “For me, it’s all about the crew and ensuring their safety as they venture to the Moon and come home,” said Ramsey. “Sending people thousands of miles from home and doing it in a way that sets the stage for long-term exploration and scientific discovery is an incredibly complex task.” During the leadup to Artemis II, Ramsey is responsible for oversight of the daily preparations as NASA prepares to launch and fly the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with a crew of four inside the Orion spacecraft. He will adjudicate issues that arise in the weeks and months ahead of the flight test and serve as deputy of the Mission Management Team — a tiger team that forms two days before launch to accept the risks associated with the mission and make decisions during the flight to address any changes or concerns. A native of Hernando, Mississippi, Ramsey pitched for the Mississippi State University baseball team before earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from the school. “There are a lot of similarities between mission management and pitching,” he said. “You control many aspects of the tempo, and there’s a lot of weight on your shoulders.” Ramsey began his career in the intelligence and defense sectors before joining the space agency in 2002 to work on guidance, navigation, and control for the X-37 Approach and Landing Test Vehicle. Later, he worked on the design of the Ares I and V rockets as part of NASA’s Constellation Program before transitioning in 2010 to the SLS Program in support of the chief engineer at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During the Artemis I launch, Ramsey was the SLS Engineering Support Center manager at Marshall, coordinating across engineering teams to provide data and solutions to issues encountered during the multiple launch attempts. He then supported the Mission Management Team during Artemis I in an observational role, preparing for his position as Artemis II mission manager. While NASA and its partners are preparing for Artemis II, work toward other Artemis missions is also underway. Ramsey also will serve as the mission manager for Artemis IV, the first Gateway assembly mission that also will include a lunar landing. “With Artemis II on the horizon, most of my time is focused on making sure we’re ready to fly Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy around the Moon and bring them safely home,” Ramsey said. “For Artemis IV, we’re in the mission concept-planning phase, establishing mission priorities and objectives and defining how we’ll transfer crew between all the hardware elements involved.” As Artemis II nears, Ramsey is blending his operational experience and expertise in design, development, testing, and evaluation so that NASA is primed for what lies ahead: sending humans back to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years and laying the foundation for future missions that will ultimately enable human exploration of Mars. View the full article

A Commercial Mission Heads to the Moon with NASA Science on This Week @NASA – February 16, 2024

3 min read Discovery Alert: Glowing Cloud Points to a Cosmic Collision This illustration depicts the aftermath of a collision between two giant exoplanets. What remains is a hot, molten planetary core and a swirling, glowing cloud of dust and debris. Mark A. Garlick The Discovery: A glowing cosmic cloud has revealed a cataclysmic collision. Key Facts: Even within our own solar system, scientists have seen evidence of giant, planetary collisions from long ago. Remaining clues like Uranus’ tilt and the existence of Earth’s moon point to times in our distant history when the planets in our stellar neighborhood slammed together, forever changing their shape and place in orbit. Scientists looking outside our solar system to far off exoplanets can spot similar evidence that, across the universe, planets sometimes crash. In this new study, the evidence of such an impact comes from a cloud of dust and gas with a strange, fluctuating luminosity. Details: Scientists were observing a young (300-million-year-old) Sun-like star when they noticed something odd: the star suddenly and significantly dipped in brightness. A team of researchers looked a little closer and they found that, just before this dip, the star displayed a sudden spike in infrared luminosity. In studying the star, the team found that this luminosity lasted for 1,000 days. But 2.5 years into this bright event, the star was unexpectedly eclipsed by something, causing the sudden dip in brightness. This eclipse endured for 500 days. The team investigated further and found that the culprit behind both the spike in luminosity and the eclipse was a giant, glowing cloud of gas and dust. And the most likely reason for the sudden, eclipse-causing cloud? A cosmic collision between two exoplanets, one of which likely contained ice, the researchers think. In a new study detailing these events, scientists suggest that two giant exoplanets anywhere from several to tens of Earth masses crashed into one another, creating both the infrared spike and the cloud. A crash like this would completely liquify the two planets, leaving behind a single molten core surrounded by a cloud of gas, hot rock, and dust. After the crash, this cloud, still holding the hot, glowing remnant of the collision, continued to orbit the star, eventually moving in front of and eclipsing the star. Fun Facts: This study was conducted using archival data from NASA’s now-retired WISE mission – the spacecraft continues to operate under the name NEOWISE. This star was first detected in 2021 by the ground-based robotic survey ASAS-SN (All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae). While this data revealed remnants of this planetary collision, the glow of this crash should still be visible to telescopes like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. In fact, the research team behind this study is already putting together proposals to observe the system with Webb. Discoverers: The study, “A planetary collision afterglow and transit of the resultant debris cloud,” was published Oct. 11, 2023, in Nature by lead author Matthew Kenworthy alongside 21 co-authors. Share Details Last Updated Feb 16, 2024 Related Terms Exoplanet Discoveries Exoplanets Gas Giant Exoplanets Missions The Universe WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

In 1994, a joint NASA and Department of Defense (DOD) mission called Clementine dramatically changed our view of the Moon. As the first U.S. mission to the Moon in more than two decades, Clementine’s primary objectives involved technology demonstrations to test lightweight component and sensor performance. The lightweight sensors aboard the spacecraft returned 1.6 million digital images, providing the first global multispectral and topographic maps of the Moon. Data from a radar instrument indicated that large quantities of water ice may lie in permanently shadowed craters at lunar south pole, while other polar regions may remain in near permanent sunlight. Although a technical problem prevented a planned flyby of an asteroid, Clementine’s study of the Moon proved that a technology demonstration mission can accomplish significant science. Left: The Clementine engineering model on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. Image credit: courtesy NASM. Right: Schematic illustration showing Clementine’s major components and sensors. The DOD’s Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, renamed the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in 1993, directed the Clementine project, formally called the Deep Space Program Science Experiment. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C., managed the mission design, spacecraft manufacture and test, launch vehicle integration, ground support, and flight operations. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California, provided the nine science instruments, including lightweight imaging cameras and ranging sensors. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Beltsville, Maryland, provided trajectory and mission planning support for the lunar phase, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, provided trajectory and mission planning for the asteroid encounter and deep space communications and tracking through the Deep Space Network. Clementine’s primary planned mission involved the testing of new lightweight satellite technologies in the harsh deep space environment. As a secondary mission, Clementine would observe the Moon for two months using its multiple sensors, then leave lunar orbit and travel to 1620 Geographos, a 1.6-mile-long, elongated, stony asteroid. At a distance of 5.3 million miles from Earth, Clementine would fly within 62 miles of the near-Earth asteroid, returning images and data using its suite of sensors. Left: Technicians prepare Clementine for a test in an anechoic chamber prior to shipping to the launch site. Middle: Workers lower the payload shroud over Clementine already mounted on its Titan IIG launch vehicle. Right: Liftoff of Clementine from Vandenberg Air Force, now Space Force, Base in California. The initial idea behind a joint NASA/DOD technology demonstration mission began in 1990, with funding approved in March 1992 to NRL and LLNL to start design of Clementine and its sensors, respectively. In an incredibly short 22 months, the spacecraft completed design, build, and testing to prepare it for flight. Clementine launched on Jan. 25, 1994, from Space Launch Complex 4-West at Vandenberg Air Force, now Space Force, Base in California atop a Titan IIG rocket. Trajectory of Clementine from launch to lunar orbit insertion. Image credit: courtesy Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The spacecraft spent the next eight days in low Earth orbit checking out its systems. On Feb. 3, a solid rocket motor fired to place it on a lunar phasing loop trajectory that included two Earth flybys to gain enough energy to reach the Moon. During the first orbit, the spacecraft jettisoned the Interstage Adapter Subsystem that remained in a highly elliptical Earth orbit for three months collecting radiation data as it passed repeatedly through the Van Allen radiation belts. On Feb. 19, Clementine fired its own engine to place the spacecraft into a highly elliptical polar lunar orbit with an 8-hour period. A second burn two days later placed Clementine into its 5-hour mapping orbit. The first mapping cycle began on Feb. 26, lasting one month, and the second cycle ended on April 21, followed by special observations. Left: Composite image of the Moon’s south polar region. Middle left: Image of Crater Tycho. Middle right: Image of Crater Rydberg. Right: Composite image of the Moon’s north polar region. During the first month of mapping, the low point of Clementine’s orbit was over the southern hemisphere to enable higher resolution imagery and laser altimetry over the south polar regions. Clementine adjusted its orbit to place the low point over the northern hemisphere for the second month of mapping to image the north polar region at higher resolution. Clementine spent the final two weeks in orbit filling in any gaps and performing extra studies looking for ice in the north polar region. For 71 days and 297 lunar orbits, Clementine imaged the Moon, returning 1.6 million digital images, many at a resolution of 330 feet. It mapped the Moon’s entire surface including the polar regions at wavelengths from near ultraviolet through visible to far infrared. The laser altimetry provided the first global topographic map of the Moon. Similar data from Apollo missions only mapped the equatorial regions of the Moon that lay under the spacecraft’s orbital path. Radio tracking of the spacecraft refined our knowledge of the Moon’s gravity field. A finding with significant application to future exploration missions, Clementine found areas near the polar regions where significant amounts of water ice may exist in permanently shadowed crater floors. Conversely, Clementine found other regions near the poles that may remain in near perpetual sunlight, providing an abundant energy source for future explorers. The Dec. 16, 1994, issue of Science, Vol. 266, No. 5192, published early results from Clementine. The Clementine project team assembled a series of lessons learned from the mission to aid future spacecraft development and operations. Left: A global map of the Moon created from Clementine images. Right: A global topographic map of the Moon based on Clementine data. Left: Composite image of Earth taken by Clementine from lunar orbit. Middle left: Colorized image of the full Earth over the lunar north pole. Middle right: Color enhanced view of the Moon lit by Earth shine, the solar corona, and the planet Venus. Right: Color enhanced image of the Earthlit Moon, the solar corona, and the planets Saturn, Mars, and Mercury. Its Moon observation time over, Clementine left lunar orbit on May 5, heading for Geographos via two more Earth gravity-assist flybys. Unfortunately, two days later a computer glitch caused one of the spacecraft’s attitude control thrusters to misfire for 11 minutes, expending precious fuel and sending Clementine into an 80-rotations-per-minute spin. The problem would have significantly reduced data return from the asteroid flyby planned for August and managers decided to keep the spacecraft in an elliptical geocentric orbit. A power supply failure in June rendered Clementine’s telemetry unintelligible. On July 20, lunar gravity propelled the spacecraft into solar orbit and the mission officially ended on Aug. 8. Ground controllers briefly regained contact between Feb. 20 and May 10, 1995, but Clementine transmitted no useful data. Despite the loss of the Geographos flyby, Clementine left a lasting legacy. The mission demonstrated that a flight primarily designed as a technology demonstration can accomplished significant science. The data Clementine returned revolutionized our knowledge of lunar history and evolution. The discovery of the unique environments at the lunar poles, including the probability of large quantities of water ice in permanently shadowed regions there, changed the outlook for future scientific missions and human exploration. Subsequent science missions, such as NASA’s Lunar Prospector and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, China’s Chang’e spacecraft, and India’s Chandrayaan spacecraft, all built on the knowledge that Clementine first obtained. Current uncrewed missions target the lunar polar regions to add ground truth to the orbital observations, and NASA’s Artemis program intends to land the first woman and the first person of color in that region as a step toward sustainable lunar exploration. Explore More 3 min read NASA Goddard’s Beginnings in Project Vanguard Article 7 hours ago 8 min read 55 Years Ago: President Nixon Establishes Space Task Group to Chart Post-Apollo Plans Article 3 days ago 13 min read 50 Years Ago: Skylab 4 Astronauts Return From Record-Breaking Spaceflight Article 1 week ago View the full article

The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Nov. 8, 2021. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will discuss recent science research and technology demonstrations aboard the International Space Station at 10:35 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 21, with astronauts living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory. During the Earth-to-space call, leadership and the crew will discuss a tech experiment demonstrating the performance of a small robot remotely controlled from our home planet to perform surgical procedures in space. They also will highlight a study focused on bone loss in space that may improve our understanding of the mechanisms behind age-related bone loss on Earth, and more ground-breaking research conducted on the microgravity laboratory. Event coverage will be available on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Additional participants include: Dr. Lisa Carnell, director, NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division Jasmin Moghbeli, NASA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Members of the media also are invited to ask questions to the participants during the 30-minute news conference. Media interested in participating must RSVP no later than 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, to the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. Reporters must dial into the news conference no later than 10:20 a.m. Feb. 21 to ask a question. Questions also may be submitted on social media using #AskNASA. Read about some of the recent investigations flown to the space station. The International Space Station is a hub for scientific research and technology demonstration. NASA and its partners continue to maximize use of the space station, where astronauts have lived and worked continuously for more than 23 years testing technologies, performing research, and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit, and explore farther from Earth. Research conducted aboard the space station provides benefits for people on Earth and paves the way for future long-duration trips to the Moon and beyond through NASA’s Artemis missions. Learn more about current science missions and the International Space Station at: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- Faith McKie / Joshua Finch Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov Chelsey Ballarte Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 16, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS Research View the full article

The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission received its latest makeover. Teams adhered the agency’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter on Sunday, Jan. 28, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA/Rad Sinyak NASA’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA’s (European Space Agency) insignia are painted on the Orion spacecraft’s crew module adapter in this image from Feb. 1, 2024. The adapter houses electronic equipment for communications, power, and control, and includes an umbilical connector that bridges the electrical, data, and fluid systems between the main modules. In October 2023, technicians joined the crew and service modules together. The crew module will house the four Artemis II astronauts as they journey around the Moon and back to Earth on an approximately 10-day trip. The spacecraft’s service module, provided by ESA, will supply the vehicle with electricity, propulsion, thermal control, air, and water in space. See photos of the crew module adapter and the SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters, which were also recently adorned with the “worm” logo. Image Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak View the full article

All the major structures that will form the core stage for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the agency’s Artemis III mission are structurally complete. Technicians finished welding the 51-foot liquid oxygen tank structure, left, inside the Vertical Assembly Building at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans Jan. 8. The liquid hydrogen tank, right, completed internal cleaning Nov. 14. NASA/Michael DeMocker As NASA works to develop all the systems needed to return astronauts to the Moon under its Artemis campaign for the benefit of all, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will be responsible for launching astronauts on their journey. With the liquid oxygen tank now fully welded, all of the major structures that will form the core stage for the SLS rocket for the agency’s Artemis III mission are ready for additional outfitting. The hardware will be a part of the rocket used for the first of the Artemis missions planning to land astronauts on the Moon’s surface near the lunar South Pole. Technicians finished welding the 51-foot liquid oxygen tank structure inside the Vertical Assembly Building at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans Jan. 8. The mega rocket’s other giant propellant tank – the liquid hydrogen tank – is already one fully welded structure. NASA and Boeing, the SLS core stage lead contractor, are currently priming the tank in another cell within the Vertical Assembly Building area called the Building 131 cryogenic tank thermal protection system and primer application complex. It completed internal cleaning Nov. 14. Manufacturing hardware is a multi-step process that includes welding, washing, and, later, outfitting hardware.The internal cleaning process is similar to a shower to ensure contaminants do not find their way into the stage’s complex propulsion and engine systems prior to priming. Once internal cleaning is complete, primer is applied to the external portions of the tank’s barrel section and domes by an automated robotic tool. Following primer, technicians apply a foam-based thermal protection system to shield it from the extreme temperatures it will face during launch and flight while also regulating the super-chilled propellant within. “NASA and its partners are processing major hardware elements at Michoud for several SLS rockets in parallel to support the agency’s Artemis campaign,” said Chad Bryant, acting manager of the Stages Office for NASA’s SLS Program. “With the Artemis II core stage nearing completion, the major structural elements of the SLS core stage for Artemis III will advance through production on the factory floor.” The two massive propellant tanks for the rocket collectively hold more than 733,000 gallons of super-chilled propellant. The propellant powers the four RS-25 engines and must stay extremely cold to remain liquid. The core stage, along with the RS-25 engines, will produce two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit and to the lunar surface for Artemis III. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch. Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts—including the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut—to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for crewed mission to Mars. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, exploration ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, Gateway, and human landing systems. For more on SLS, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/space-launch-system/ News Media Contact Corinne Beckinger Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256.544.0034 corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Stennis Space Center and Sidus Space, Inc., marked another milestone February 15 for the Center’s first-ever in-flight autonomous systems software mission as a payload rider on the Sidus Space LizzieSatTM small satellite. “Each step brings us a step closer to deployment of ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications) in space,” said Chris Carmichael, NASA Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) Branch Chief. “We are excited with the progress as we continue to collaborate with Sidus Space on this truly historic mission for the Center.” The ASTRA mission involves an autonomous systems hardware/software payload developed at NASA Stennis as a technology demonstrator in space aboard the Sidus Space premier satellite, LizzieSat TM -1 (LS-1). Sidus Space is responsible for the launch, deployment, and mission operation of the LS-1 satellite. At some stage during the overall satellite mission that could last as long as two years, the NASA Stennis team will send commands to the Sidus Space flight computer to autonomously conduct targeted mission objectives with the ASTRA system. In preparation for the scheduled launch of the LS-1 mission this spring, officials at the Sidus Space integration facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, reported it has completed integration testing of the ASTRA flight unit with the LS-1 satellite. Sidus Space worked with members of the NASA Stennis ASL team to complete extensive integration and communications testing of the flight unit. The testing verified unit functionality, as well as the ability of the ASL team to upload software to the flight unit. The latest achievement comes on the heels of a December milestone in which the ASL team completed a Flight Readiness Review of the baseline ASTRA flight software. Sidus Space is scheduled to launch the LS-1 satellite on the SpaceX Transporter 10, Falcon 9 rocket, this spring. LS-1 will be among dozens of small satellites launched on the SpaceX rocket. The LS-1 satellite is carrying six payloads to space, one of which is ASTRA. The ASTRA project began as a proposal by early career employees at NASA Stennis and continues as a partnership project between the Center and Sidus Space. It marks the first time NASA Stennis ever has flown hardware/software into space. For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit: Stennis Space Center – NASA -end- Share Details Last Updated Feb 16, 2024 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related TermsStennis Space Center Explore More 5 min read Lagniappe for February 2024 Article 2 weeks ago 5 min read NASA Spinoffs Feature NASA Stennis Developed Technologies Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read NASA Marks Halfway Point for Artemis Moon Rocket Engine Certification Series Article 3 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics from NASA Stennis Doing Business with NASA Stennis About NASA Stennis Visit NASA Stennis NASA Stennis Media Resources View the full article

De izquierda a derecha, el embajador de Uruguay en Estados Unidos, Andrés Augusto Durán Hareau, el subsecretario adjunto del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos, Kevin Sullivan, el administrador de la NASA, Bill Nelson, y el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores uruguayo, Omar Paganini, posan para una foto durante la ceremonia de firma de los Acuerdos de Artemis, el jueves 15 de febrero de 2024, en el edificio Mary W. Jackson de la sede de la NASA en Washington. Uruguay es el 36.º país en firmar los Acuerdos de Artemis, que establecen un conjunto práctico de principios para guiar la cooperación en la exploración espacial entre las naciones que participan en el programa Artemis de la NASA. Créditos: NASA/Keegan Barber En una ceremonia celebrada el jueves 15 de febrero en la sede de la NASA en Washington, Uruguay se convirtió en el trigésimo sexto país en firmar los Acuerdos de Artemis. El administrador de la NASA, Bill Nelson, participó en la ceremonia de firma por parte de la agencia, y el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, Omar Paganini, firmó estos acuerdos en nombre de Uruguay. Los Acuerdos de Artemis establecen un conjunto práctico de principios para guiar la cooperación en materia de exploración espacial entre naciones. También participaron en el evento: • Pam Melroy, administradora adjunta de la NASA • Karen Feldstein, administradora asociada de la Oficina de Relaciones Internacionales e Interinstitucionales de la NASA • Kevin Sullivan, subsecretario adjunto del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos • Andrés Augusto Durán Hareau, embajador de Uruguay en Estados Unidos • Heide Fulton, embajadora de Estados Unidos en Uruguay “La NASA da la bienvenida a Uruguay como el miembro más reciente de la familia de los Acuerdos de Artemis”, dijo Nelson. “Estados Unidos y Uruguay comparten un compromiso con la democracia y la paz y, ahora, extendimos estos principios hacia el cosmos para comprometernos con la exploración del espacio de forma segura y transparente”. Los Acuerdos de Artemis fueron establecidos en 2020 por Estados Unidos junto con otros siete países fundadores. Desde entonces, los signatarios de estos acuerdos han mantenido debates centrados en la mejor manera de poner en práctica los principios de los Acuerdos de Artemis. “Nos sentimos honrados de tener la oportunidad de presentar la cooperación espacial como un nuevo capítulo en la sólida agenda bilateral entre Uruguay y Estados Unidos”, dijo Paganini. “Estamos seguros de que esta ceremonia de firma no es un fin en sí misma, sino el comienzo de una nueva vía bilateral basada en actividades intensivas en conocimiento y de nuevas oportunidades para nuestro pueblo”. Los Acuerdos de Artemis fortalecen e implementan obligaciones clave del Tratado sobre el Espacio Ultraterrestre de 1967. También fortalecen el compromiso de Estados Unidos y las naciones signatarias con el Convenio de Registro y el Acuerdo de Rescate y Devolución, así como las mejores prácticas que tienen el respaldo de la NASA y sus socios, incluyendo la divulgación pública de datos científicos Se espera que en los próximos meses y años más países firmen estos acuerdos, los cuales fomentan actividades seguras, pacíficas y prósperas en el espacio. Aprende más acerca de los Acuerdos de Artemis en el siguiente sitio web en inglés: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords -fin- Faith McKie / Roxana Bardan Sede, Washington 202-358-1600 faith.mckie@nasa.gov / roxana.bardan@nasa.gov María José Viñas Sede, Washington 202-358-1600 maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 16, 2024 EditorRoxana BardanLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsOffice of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR)Artemis AccordsBill Nelson View the full article

The CHAPEA mission 1 crew (from left: Nathan Jones, Ross Brockwell, Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu) exit a prototype of a pressurized rover and make their way to the CHAPEA facility ahead of their entry into the habitat on June 25, 2023. Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel NASA is seeking applicants to participate in its next simulated one-year Mars surface mission to help inform the agency’s plans for human exploration of the Red Planet. The second of three planned ground-based missions called CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) is scheduled to kick off in spring 2025. Each CHAPEA mission involves a four-person volunteer crew living and working inside a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The habitat, called the Mars Dune Alpha, simulates the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. Crew tasks include simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, habitat maintenance, exercise, and crop growth. NASA is looking for healthy, motivated U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are non-smokers, 30-55 years old, and proficient in English for effective communication between crewmates and mission control. Applicants should have a strong desire for unique, rewarding adventures and interest in contributing to NASA’s work to prepare for the first human journey to Mars. The deadline for applicants is Tuesday, April 2. https://chapea.nasa.gov/ Crew selection will follow additional standard NASA criteria for astronaut candidate applicants. A master’s degree in a STEM field such as engineering, mathematics, or biological, physical or computer science from an accredited institution with at least two years of professional STEM experience or a minimum of one thousand hours piloting an aircraft is required. Candidates who have completed two years of work toward a doctoral program in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, completed a medical degree, or a test pilot program will also be considered. With four years of professional experience, applicants who have completed military officer training or a bachelor of science degree in a STEM field may be considered. Compensation for participating in the mission is available. More information will be provided during the candidate screening process. As NASA works to establish a long-term presence for scientific discovery and exploration on the Moon through the Artemis campaign, CHAPEA missions provide important scientific data to validate systems and develop solutions for future missions to the Red Planet. With the first CHAPEA crew more than halfway through their yearlong mission, NASA is using research gained through the simulated missions to help inform crew health and performance support during Mars expeditions. Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all. For more about CHAPEA, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea/ -end- Rachel Kraft Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov Anna Schneider/Laura Sorto Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov/laura.g.sorto@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 16, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) In the dawn of the Space Age, a group of scientists and engineers from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) had their eye on a new frontier: the uncharted expanse of space. Project Vanguard, initiated in 1955, aimed to launch the first American satellite into Earth orbit as part of the International Geophysical Year (July 1957 to December 1958). Led by NRL, it envisioned a three-stage rocket design and emphasized scientific instrumentation over military application while showcasing American ingenuity. Despite its ambitious goals, Project Vanguard encountered difficulties. The first five Vanguard launch attempts suffered critical failures, earning it the nickname “Flopnik” in the press. The public, eager for American success in space following the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1, was disappointed in Vanguard’s performance. However, Vanguard’s legacy extends beyond its initial setbacks. On March 17, 1958, Vanguard TV-4, also known as Vanguard I, achieved orbit to become America’s second satellite and the world’s fourth artificial satellite in space. This success marked a major milestone and instilled renewed confidence in the project. Today, Vanguard I remains in space as the oldest satellite orbiting the Earth. The Vanguard II satellite is prepared for launch on the Vanguard SLV-4 rocket in early 1959. NASA Goddard Archives The sphere-shaped Vanguard II satellite reflects the scene in this 1959 photo from the preparations for its launch.NASA Goddard Archives A few months after the launch of Vanguard I in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and on May 1, 1959, NASA Administrator Dr. T. Keith Glennan announced that the Beltsville Space Center would become Goddard Space Flight Center. The center would be under the overall guidance of Dr. Abe Silverstein, then Director of Space Flight Development at NASA Headquarters. Recognizing the expertise and dedication of the NRL team, NASA transferred many employees from Project Vanguard to form the nucleus of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The migration of NRL scientists and engineers to Goddard wasn’t merely a paperwork shuffle, it was the transfer of their vital knowledge and experience. Their impact was immediate. While initially tasked with completing Vanguard’s mission, the Goddard center quickly expanded its scope, encompassing Earth science, astrophysics, and space exploration. Early Goddard employees formed the core of several projects, including the Explorer series of satellites and the Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Program. They tackled the challenges of satellite communication, laying the groundwork for technologies that would be used for years. Goddard’s dedication ceremony took place on March 16, 1961, but its employees were hard at work well before that day. According to one employee’s account, the Applied Mathematics Branch moved from an office in Anacostia to the Greenbelt site on May 9, 1960. Other employees from a Massachusetts Avenue office building in Washington, DC, arrived around the same time. Those early days at Goddard were not easy. Parking lots had not been paved and signs at the center directed employees to park their cars under a large grove of oak trees. Some buildings did not yet have running water and portable toilets were available outside. The parking area outside Building 1 at Goddard Space Flight Center circa 1960 left room for improvement. NASA Goddard Archives Portable toilets were also parked outside Building 1 circa 1960 when running water at the site was still unavailable.NASA Goddard Archives In celebration of Vanguard II’s sixtieth anniversary in 2019, the Goddard Archives installed newly preserved flight spares of Vanguard II and Vanguard III. Vanguard II hangs in the atrium of Building 33 and Vanguard III hangs in the visitor’s center. The Goddard Archives also hosted an event to highlight Goddard’s roots in Project Vanguard. In attendance were NRL historian Angelina Callahan, who gave a short talk about NRL and Project Vanguard, and five employees who worked at Goddard when it was first established. The legacy of the early work at NASA Goddard endures, not just in its scientific achievements, but also in its inspiring work exploring the frontiers of our universe. Five of the original employees at Goddard Space Flight Center participated in a celebration of Vanguard II’s sixtieth anniversary in 2019. From left to right they are Andy Anderson, Ed Habib, Bill Hocking, Ron Muller, and Pete Serbu.NASA/GSFC Read Vanguard: A History (SP-4202) More History of Goddard Space Flight Center About the AuthorChristine StevensNASA Chief Archivist Share Details Last Updated Feb 15, 2024 LocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsNASA HistoryGoddard Space Flight Center Explore More 2 min read Launch of TIROS 1, World’s 1st Weather Satellite — This Week in Goddard History: March 31–April 6 Article 5 years ago 2 min read 60 Years Ago: Vanguard Fails to Reach Orbit Article 6 years ago 6 min read 65 Years Ago: Sputnik Ushers in the Space Age Article 1 year ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA NASA History Goddard Space Flight Center NASA Archives NASA Oral Histories View the full article

“I was born and raised in Kenya and come from a very humble background. I’m one of nine kids and the third born, meaning that I started responsibilities very early because we had to help our mother. Almost every two to three years, she had a baby, so you can imagine she was a very, very strong woman and powerful, too. When I think about that past, she is the person, and my father as well, who taught us that we can overcome any obstacle. It doesn’t matter what it is. “I remember going to school without fees, and they would send me home. One time, when I was complaining about being sent home because of my lack of school fees, [my mother] could see I was affected by all this. She told me, ‘Those kids you see out there that look like they come from higher, well-off families came to this world the same way you came. So, you are no different than them. Don’t look at the material wealth and think you are less than them.’ “That’s the background that shaped me. It instilled a sense of believing in yourself. Anyone you see on the streets, their color or background doesn’t matter; we all come into this world the same way. You’re equipped with skills, so find your passion and go for it. “When I look at that background, it’s the one that has helped me come this far.” – Dr. Charles Gatebe, Chief of Atmospheric Science Branch, NASA’s Ames Research Center Image Credit: NASA / Brandon Torres Interviewer: NASA / Tahira Allen Check out some of our other Faces of NASA. View the full article

Shobhana Gupta is a physician scientist and currently serves as the Open Innovation and Community Applications manager with Earth Science Division’s Applied Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters. Shobhana Gupta is a physician scientist and currently serves as the Open Innovation and Community Applications manager with Earth Science Division’s Applied Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters. Shobhana manages crowdsourcing activities including prize competitions to invite talents and experiences outside of the NASA community for the discovery and development of applications of Earth observations for decision-making. She is also a star solver, having provided a number of valuable ideas and solutions to her peers through NASA Spark. NASA Spark as an internal, agency-wide platform that provides NASA employees an unconventional and inventive way to share knowledge and advance projects. Check out what Shobhana has to say about open innovation and the NASA Spark community. What is your role at NASA? I serve as the Manager of NASA Earth Action’s Prizes and Challenges Program, where we use crowdsourcing mechanisms to invite talents and experiences outside of the NASA community to participate in the discovery and development of Earth observations-based applications for decision-making. I also serve as the Associate Program Manager of NASA’s Equity and Environmental Justice Program, to support projects that apply NASA data for advancing awareness and challenges related to human health or environmental outcomes that are unique to, or disproportionately affect, underserved communities, including persons of color, low-income persons, Indigenous persons or members of Tribal nations. I completed my medical and graduate training at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (Department of Microbiology and Immunology) and a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine (Department of Neurology) before joining NASA in 2015 as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. I supported the Health and Air Quality Program to enhance decision-making about environmental health and infectious diseases, as well as managed NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge Program in 2017. Why do you like participating on NASA Spark? I truly believe that the best outcomes can be achieved if we are open and invite collaboration on not just the work we have done, but the work that we are doing. This includes sharing our current challenges and harnessing the knowledge and skills of people from different backgrounds, fields of expertise, and different experiences to find solutions. Instead of trying to find resources or solutions by myself or within my team, NASA Spark allows me to expand my network and benefit from ideas from colleagues across ALL of NASA – that’s incredible! You’re a multi-time winner! What does that mean to you? Why do you keep coming back and sharing your ideas? I love participating in NASA Spark campaigns because it is a great way to leverage the work we are doing or have completed for greater impact across NASA. If we have created a resource that gives another team a head start in their work, it’s a win-win. Our team can show the value of our work, and the other team can save their time and resources. How can other NASA employees best utilize NASA Spark? NASA Spark can be the NASA “watercooler” for employees across all programs and centers in the agency. We can post challenges we are stuck on, ideas we are trying to develop, or any other calls for input to our entire brilliant, skilled, multidisciplinary expert workforce – for free and for minimal effort! We should all sign up to learn about and contribute to new campaigns from our colleagues, including building on ideas that others have submitted. NASA Spark is a great platform to network across the agency – your coworkers are just collaborators waiting to happen! What does innovation mean to you? Innovation, to me, is doing something new while constantly moving towards doing better. Whether it is applying existing tools and ideas in a novel way or developing completely new solutions – innovation should make our work easier and outcomes more impactful. Open innovation by sharing our work and challenges with people from unrelated fields and backgrounds, encouraging them to apply their perspectives to manipulate our questions and share solutions, can in turn empower us to achieve superior outcomes. If you are a NASA employee and interested in learning more about NASA Spark, visit spark.nasa.gov. View the full article

In the left two photos, workers with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) paint the bright red NASA “worm” logo on the side of an Artemis II solid rocket booster segment inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The EGS team used a laser projector to mask off the logo with tape, then painted the first coat of the iconic design. The booster segments will help propel the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis II mission to send four astronauts around the Moon as part of the agency’s effort to establish a long-term science and exploration presence at the Moon, and eventually Mars. In the right photo, the Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission received its latest makeover. Teams adhered the agency’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter on Sunday, Jan. 28, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA/Glenn Benson and Rad Sinyak Art and science merge as teams add the NASA “worm” logo on the SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters and the Orion spacecraft’s crew module adapter at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the agency’s Artemis II mission. The iconic logo was introduced in 1975 by the firm of Danne & Blackburn as a modern emblem for the agency. It emerged from a nearly 30-year retirement in 2020 for limited use on select missions and products. NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and prime contractor Jacobs began painting the red logotype onto the segments that form the Moon rocket’s two solid rocket boosters Jan. 22. To do so, crews used a laser projector to first mark off the location of the logo with tape, then applied two coats of paint and finished by adding several coats of clear primer. Each letter of the worm logo measures approximately 6 feet and 10 inches in height and altogether, stretches 25 feet from end to end, or a little less than the length of one of the rocket’s booster motor segments. The location of the worm logo will be moderately different from where it was during Artemis I. While it will still be located on each of the rocket’s 17 story boosters, the modernist logo will be placed toward the front of the booster systems tunnel cover. The SLS boosters are the largest, most powerful solid propellant boosters ever flown and provide more than 75% of the thrust at launch. Workers with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) paint the bright red NASA “worm” logo on the side of an Artemis II solid rocket booster segment inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The EGS team used a laser projector to mask off the logo with tape, then painted the first coat of the iconic design. The booster segments will help propel the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis II mission to send four astronauts around the Moon as part of the agency’s effort to establish a long-term science and exploration presence at the Moon, and eventually Mars.NASA/Glenn Benson Around the corner inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy, personnel adhered the worm logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia Jan. 28 on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter. The adapter houses electronic equipment for communications, power, and control, and includes an umbilical connector that bridges the electrical, data, and fluid systems between the main modules. In October 2023, technicians joined the crew and service modules together. The crew module will house the four astronauts as they journey around the Moon and back to Earth on an approximately 10-day journey. The spacecraft’s service module, provided by ESA, will supply the vehicle with electricity, propulsion, thermal control, air, and water in space. The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission received its latest makeover. Teams adhered the agency’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter on Sunday, Jan. 28, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA/Rad Sinyak NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon through Artemis. SLS and the Orion spacecraft are central to NASA’s deep space exploration plans, along with advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway space station planned for orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. View the full article

2 min read Hubble Views a Massive Star Forming This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is a relatively close star-forming region known as IRAS 16562-3959. ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Fedriani, J. Tan This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is teeming with color and activity. It features a relatively close star-forming region known as IRAS 16562-3959, which lies within the Milky Way about 5,900 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 make up this image. Its detailed nuance of color is the result of four separate filters. These thin slivers of highly specialized material can slide in front of the instrument’s light sensors, allowing very specific wavelengths of light to pass through with each observation. This is useful because certain wavelengths of light can tell us about the region’s composition, temperature, and density. At the center of the image, IRAS 16562-3959 likely hosts a massive star – about 30 times the mass of our Sun – that is still in the process of forming. The shadowy clouds appear dark because there is so much light-obscuring dust blocking the near-infrared wavelengths of light Hubble observed. However, near-infrared light does leak out mainly on two sides – upper left and lower right – where a powerful jet from the massive protostar cleared away the dust. Multi-wavelength images like this incredible Hubble scene help us gain a better understanding of how the most massive, brightest stars in our galaxy form. Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA) Download this image Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD claire.andreoli@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 16, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Nebulae Protostars Star-forming Nebulae Stars The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Galaxies Stories Stars Stories NASA Astrophysics View the full article

From left to right, Uruguayan Ambassador to the United States Andrés Augusto Durán Hareau, U.S. Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary Kevin Sullivan, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and Uruguayan Foreign Minister Omar Paganini pose for a photo during an Artemis Accords signing ceremony, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Uruguay is the 36th country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s Artemis program. Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber During a ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington Thursday, Uruguay became the 36th country to sign the Artemis Accords. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson participated in the signing ceremony for the agency, and Omar Paganini, foreign minister, signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of Uruguay. The accords establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations. Also participating in the event were: NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy Karen Feldstein, associate administrator for NASA’s Office of International and Interagency Relations Kevin Sullivan, U.S. Department of State deputy assistant secretary Andrés Augusto Durán Hareau, Uruguayan ambassador to the U.S. Heide Fulton, U.S. ambassador to Uruguay “NASA welcomes Uruguay as the newest member of the Artemis Accords family,” said Nelson. “The United States and Uruguay share a commitment to democracy and peace, and now, we expand these principles in the cosmos to commit to the safe and transparent exploration of space.” The Artemis Accords were established in 2020 by the United States together with seven other original signatories. Since then, the Accords signatories have held focused discussions on how best to implement the Artemis Accords principles. “We are honored to have the opportunity to introduce space cooperation as a new chapter in the robust bilateral agenda between Uruguay and the U.S.,” said Paganini. “We are sure that this signing ceremony is not an end in itself, but the beginning of a new bilateral track based on knowledge-intensive activities and new opportunities for our people.” The Artemis Accords reinforce and implement key obligations in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. They also strengthen the commitment by the United States and signatory nations to the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices NASA and its partners support, including the public release of scientific data. More countries are expected to sign the accords in the months and years ahead, which are advancing safe, peaceful, and prosperous activities in space. Learn more about the Artemis Accords at: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords -end- Faith McKie / Roxana Bardan Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 faith.mckie@nasa.gov / roxana.bardan@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 15, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNASA HeadquartersArtemis AccordsOffice of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR) View the full article

NASA/Kim Shiflett At 1:05 a.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, named Odysseus, lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines’ first lunar mission will carry NASA science to the Moon to study plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies. Odysseus is scheduled to land on the Moon’s South Pole region near the lunar feature known as Malapert A on Thursday, Feb. 22. This relatively flat and safe region is within the otherwise heavily cratered southern highlands on the side of the Moon visible from Earth. Landing near Malapert A will also help mission planners understand how to communicate and send data back to Earth from a location where Earth is low on the lunar horizon. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett View the full article

The Camp Fire, which erupted 90 miles (140 kilometers) north of Sacramento, California, as seen from the Landsat 8 spacecraft, which was launched by NASA and operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey, and MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. NASA is now an associate member of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, giving the agency new opportunities to collaborate with federal agencies and other partners to better understand wildland fires and leverage technology and innovation to prevent and manage them for the benefit of humanity. The interagency group provides national leadership to enable interoperable wildland fire operations among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners. The group works to support the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy’s goals of restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes, creating fire-adapted communities, and responding to wildfires safely and effectively. “As wildfires become larger and more frequent, NASA is working to apply our scientific and technological knowledge toward this national challenge, and integral to our approach is forging collaborative partnerships,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Harnessing our Earth observation capabilities and cutting-edge technology in safe air operations, we are poised to make new connections that will bolster wildfire fighting efforts across the government.” NASA’s inclusion in the coordination group is a step toward enhancing interagency collaboration. As a member, NASA will have opportunities to develop solutions with wildland fire management agencies as partners to share its research and technologies to aid in the development of standards for wildland fire management. NASA has a rich history of research, development, and technology transfer in the areas of Earth science, space technologies, and aeronautics that will support the group’s mission. To support the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, NASA will leverage the combined contributions of research and development, data gathering and distribution, and technology transfer from three NASA mission directorates in the areas of earth science, space technologies, and aeronautics. The interagency group membership will help augment NASA’s Wildland Fire Management Initiative, which supports the development, demonstration, and commercialization of wildland fire technology through awards to small businesses, research institutions, and other technology innovators. “A crucial aspect of the National Wildfire Coordination Group’s role is developing standards for the wildland fire community to enable interoperability,” said Aitor Bidaburu, executive board chair for the group. “With NASA, it will significantly enhance the common operating framework for the interagency wildland fire community.” NASA’s inclusion also directly supports recommendations the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology made in their 2023 report Modernizing Wildland Firefighting to Protect our Firefighters. Specifically, it recommends agencies: Immediately assess, adapt, and field currently available technologies Strengthen the full operational sequence of wildland firefighting Accelerate improvement of predictive wildfire modeling tools Encourage development and field demonstration of prototype systems to expand the nation’s wildfire response capacity Primary members of the coordination group include the Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Association of State Foresters, U.S. Fire Administration, Intertribal Timber Council, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the Defense Department. Associate members include the Commerce Department’s National Weather Service, and the Department of the Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire. -end- Rob Margetta Headquarters, Washington 202-763-5012 robert.j.margetta@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 15, 2024 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsWildfiresEarth View the full article